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Bahamas Olympic Movement Observes 62 Years

5/14/2014 5:10:00 PM

The Bahamas Olympic movement observes sixty-two years of existence this year, 2014, which is also the year of the 50th anniversary of the country’s historic Olympic Gold Medal, won in sailing in 1964 by Cecil Cooke under the captaincy of Sir Durward Knowles.

“Far from resting on our past success”, Bahamas Olympic Secretary General Romell Knowles proudly noted that a review of the history books will reveal that “Team Bahamas has won at least one Olympic Medal in every single summer Olympic Games since Frank Rutherford’s Bronze Medal Triple Jump in Barcelona, Spain in 1992 and we fully intend to continue that trend”.

This year, 2014; The Bahamas Olympic Committee and its member Federations are planning to field competitive national teams at the Commonwealth Games in July in Glasgow, Scotland; the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China in August; and the Central American & Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico in November.

Since its inception on 7th May, 1952 as The Bahamas Olympic Association, the Committee has had five presidents, starting with Sir George Roberts (1952 to 1957); R.H. ‘Bobby’ Symonette, who led the Olympic Movement in The Bahamas until 1972; the third President, former Minister of Health, Dr. Norman Gay served from 1972 to 1973 and was succeeded by Sir Arlington Butler who led the

Olympic Movement in The Bahamas between 1973 and 2008.

The organization is now known as The Bahamas Olympic Committee as of 11th April, last year, 2013, when the name was changed to conform with a request from the International Olympic Committee. The new era of Olympism in The Bahamas is being led by Wellington Miller. Mr. Miller, who was the last President of The Bahamas Olympic Association and the first of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, aims to carry the movement from strength to strength through a strong focus on athletes’ well-being and high level preparation.

In its sixty-two years, Bahamas Olympics has progressed from incorporating just the core Bahamian sports of Sailing and Athletics to now comprising eighteen Federations and Associations representing the relevant Olympic Sports and several more associate members representing other established or fast growing new sports in The Bahamas.

The Bahamas first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Bahamas has not yet participated in any Winter Olympic Games; however, the country narrowly missed qualifying to compete in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Bahamian athletes have won a total of eleven Olympic medals, all in athletics and sailing.